Prayer: Jesus, we come hungry before Your throne this morning Lord You are the resurrection and the Life. You have the words of Life. Your words are spirit and they are life. Today, as we are taught by You Holy Spirit, we are raised from the ‘death’ of carnal thinking to embrace the Light found in You, the Way, the Truth and the Life
Lord help us to live with the throne in mind. Prepare us to be a sanctuary, a place of worship, we pray in Jesus name. Let worship arise from us Lord.
Our Teacher, the Holy Spirit, has brought us to this time…a time of introspection where we can check our lives, check the oil we have in and for our lamps so that we can make sure that we are ready should the Lord return to fetch His bride.
In Matt 22 Jesus gave His disciples a warning about those who were invited to the wedding of the king’s son and their lack of respect for the occasion.
Matt. 22:1-14 – And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.
Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, and another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’
So the servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ’Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
In this parable, this guest had graciously been invited by the king to the wedding, but he never bothered to prepare for the wedding. He had simply ignored protocol and in doing so he disrespected and insulted the king and the importance of the occasion. It was for this reason that the king deemed him to be unworthy to be at the wedding.
Jesus ends it with this – V13-14 – Then the king said to his servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called (Kletos – meaning calling forth, invited), but few are chosen (Eklektos – meaning picked out, favourite).’
The desire of the Lord is that you are one of those that are chosen. Your absolute desire MUST be that you are one of the chosen who go in the rapture. And secondly…you need to know what would qualify you to be one of the chosen.
The Lamb’s wife – our final destination.
Rev. 21:2 – Then, I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride (Eph.5:25-32) adorned for her husband.
V22 – 23: But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.
- The Temple was the place that the priests would go to worship before the Lord. His Presence would dwell in the Holy of Holies. A place separated unto Him that would be filled with His Presence and His glory.
- Now…the bride, the New Jerusalem, is filled with His Presence, His glory…she has become His dwelling place.
- Her distinguishing feature – she shows forth the glory of God and the Lamb. She is illuminated by the glory of God…the Lamb is the light shining forth from her. She is the chosen…the transformed one.
Well how that did that transformation happen?
Two things have to happen:
- We see from Eph. 5:25-32 that Jesus is sanctifying and cleansing her so she will be a glorious church.
- Rev. 19:7-8 tells us that she has made herself ready.
So which is it? Jesus or the bride? It’s both…Jesus, through our Teacher, the Holy Spirit, reveals to us what has to happen so that we might become the sanctified, cleansed and glorious church.
Yet, it is our decision to surrender to the process, to die to ourselves, to pick up our cross, to stick with it until the transformation has become fully completed.
Who does the work of transforming us once we have surrendered and are committed? The Holy Spirit.
1. An attitude of Repentance – seeking Redemption and Cleansing
Esther spent a whole year in preparation for her one night with the king.
We can tell by the amount of time spent in preparation, how important an occasion is.
In the case of Esther, her best was not good enough, she came in as a peasant girl and had to be taught what was good and acceptable in the sight of the king.
She had to learn the protocol of the palace!
The following explanation comes from Tommy Tenneys’ book, “Finding favour with the King”.
- She spent six months of her stay being prepared with a regimen using oil of myrrh. Myrrh is the fragrant resinous gum of a plant with astringent properties (meaning that it naturally constricts soft (organic) tissue and restricts the flow of bodily fluids).
- Myrrh was included in the two holy preparations used in the worship and ministry to God in the tabernacle of Moses.
- The first six months of Esther’s preparation speak of cleansing, purification, and the removal of all toxins and defiling agents. In the same way, if we want to live in God’s presence, we must make repentance a part of our daily and moment by moment routine. We should breathe it in and pray it out, rub it deep into our being to remove impurities and soften our hardened attitudes.
Thank you Tommy Tenney! I cannot think of a better way of putting it.
Just as myrrh restricts the flow of bodily fluids and thereby removes the smell (a waste product) of the flesh, living a life of repentance removes the sin (a waste product) of our flesh or our carnality!
It is repentance that gives us the ability to stand in His presence! Nothing else! Why? Repentance keeps us clean and accesses the blood bought gift of righteousness that belongs to Jesus.
This is the sanctification and cleansing it talks about in Eph. 5:26-27 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Just like Esther was prepared by the king’s chamberlain, so we too, are prepared by our King’s Chamberlain…the Holy Spirit.
2. An attitude of Service and Worship
I cannot stress enough the importance of worship in the preparation of the Bride.
Esther spent a second six month period of immersion and being saturated by fragrances. This produced an aroma about her that was pleasing to the king.
Tommy Tenney describes it very well:
“Worship covers us with the fragrance of the King! In fact, the real purpose of soaking in the oil of anointing (repentance) is to camouflage any smell of the flesh”.
John 4:23-24 – But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him MUST worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean singing to Him in tongues.
We must understand that singing and dancing are merely an expression of worship, a vehicle to express our love and gratitude.
So then, if God is seeking for true worshipers, and it is not about singing in tongues only, surely we should do all we can to understand what He does want!
What does God want?
Matt. 15: 8 – 9 “These people draw near to Me with their mouth and honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. IN VAIN they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
We can see from this scripture that what God really wants is your heart! A heart that is eager to please Him.
Worship happens in a humble heart filled with gratitude, a heart that is seeking to please the Father! A heart that is after the heart of God and not His hands. It is the outworking of First Love.
Develop a passion to please Him! Let the heartfelt cry of your heart be, “Holy Spirit, please teach me how to worship my Father and my Saviour, teach me the reverence and the fear of the Lord, that I might bless Him.”
Hence, our song today…’Find me at the feet of Jesus’. And the prayer of our hearts which has become, ‘Open the eyes of my heart, that I might see where I have given the attention that You deserve to lesser things that are inferior to You.’
Let us briefly look at the lives of Mary and Martha to give us further understanding.
John 11:1-3 – Now, a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the brother of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
Which Mary was she? The one who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair.
Where was she? At His feet, bent over low… in worship.
How did Jesus view this act of worship? It was so significant that He had this to say…
Matt. 26:12-13 – For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial, assuredly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.
The amazing thing is that Mary did what she was led to do. She could not have known that she was anointing Him for His burial but by loving Him so intently and by worshipping Him, she unknowingly ministered to Him exactly what He needed.
Luke 10:38-42 – Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.’
And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But ONE THING IS NEEDED, and Mary has chosen that part, which will not be taken from her.’
Where was Mary? Again…she was at His feet.
What was the one thing that Mary had chosen? She was focusing on Him and on His word. She wanted to know Him, to understand Him, to hear what He had to say. Everybody and anything else faded into the distance.
She was so in love with Him, so in awe of Him that she chose His presence above all else. Today we know about her because of her love and reverent awe for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Martha however, although she ‘knows’ the Lord, has a different relationship with the Lord. She never recognized the true value of the moment. She had reduced the moment to works. She had placed more importance on her ‘ministry’ to all there then she had on the Lord Jesus Christ. Her relationship was tied up in ‘the works’ that she did for Him and the others and because she wanted to do more than she was able to do by herself, she was mad at Mary for not helping.
This is similar to the warning that Jesus gives us in Rev. 2:2-4: ‘I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience and have laboured for My name’s sake and have not becomeweary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
It is important to know that although our bridal garment is made up of the righteous acts of the saints it must never take more of our attention than the Groom.
What we give to Him and what we hold back are all a measure of our love for Him.
We have spoken much about the 10 bridesmaids in Matt. 25. They are all pure (they are virgins), they are all set apart and are in pursuit of the bridegroom.
But even then although they are set apart and waiting for Him, we know that they don’t all get through the door. The reason why? Jesus said, ‘I don’t know you.’
There has to be a deep knowing of Him, a deep love for Him.
Brian Guerin – ‘This is why those who are kingdom servants alone will not excel like the bride in the last hour. This is where the bridesmaids split. Those with an abundance of oil are those burning with love and are slipping through the door into the wedding feast and those with less oil, they still have their lamps (which can represent their ministry)…they are still set apart from the world. They can be the Matt. 7:21-23 preachers, gunning on all cylinders but in the last hour if their foundation is built on anything other than knowing and loving and becoming one with Jesus Christ then they will be shaken.
I urge you to seek His face, to get to know Him intimately. Take time to be still in His presence. It’ll be awkward at first because we get uncomfortable with silence but press through. Put on some instrumental worship music, meditate on who He is.
Remind yourself that He is right there…has always been there…waiting…and longing for you. Persist until the veils of the flesh fade away and you become aware of Him. Our goal is to live in a continual state of being aware of Him…even when we are doing life.